Operators Claro and Altice were the winners of the radio spectrum tender that will allow the deployment of 5G in the Dominican Republic.
The regulator Indotel estimates that this tender will result in revenues for the Dominican Republic of US$73.8 million over the next 20 years.
Claro, a subsidiary of Mexican teleco América Móvil, will pay US$53.1 million for using the spectrum over the next 20 years, while Netherlands-based Altice will pay US$20.7 million over the next 14 years.
The former submitted the highest economic offer of US$37,937 per MHz per year, which allowed it to choose the spectrum block first. The operator opted for the allocation of 70MHz in the 3.3-3.4MHz band for an annual amount of US$2.66 million.
Altice will pay US$1.44 million per year to operate 70MHz of spectrum in the 3.4-3.6MHz bands at a value of US$21,100 per MHz per year.
The regulator did not report whether there were bids for the 698-802MHz band, which were also available in this bidding process. BNamericas attempted to contact Indotel but, at the time of going to press, had not received a response.
At the end of June the Dominican Republic had 7.28 million mobile lines with data services. Claro has the largest market share with 4.3 million, followed by Altice with 2.6 million and Viva, with just over 360,000 users.
CONCESSIONS
Before the auction, Indotel celebrated the signing of the concession contracts and agreed with the operators the duration of each contract to operate telecommunications services in the country.
Trilogy (Viva) -which did not participate in the spectrum bidding- agreed a contract until 2034; Altice, until 2035; and Claro, until 2041.
Indotel stated at the time that the operators would invest US$115 million over the next four years.
